Verstappen storms his way to Japanese GP F1 pole with blistering lap

Red Bull and Max Verstappen returned to the top of the grid, after a troubling time in Singapore, as the world champion put in a blistering lap to edge out the two McLarens by half a second.

Q1

When the pit exit light went green to signal the start of qualifying, Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll waited eagerly to get on with it. As such, the Canadian was the first driver to set a lap time on the board as New Zealand’s Liam Lawson of Alpha Tauri joined him out on track. 

Of the first opening laps, Lawson jumped Stroll by half a second on the first banked laps. After their first flying laps, the rest of the pack began to slowly filter out onto the circuit as both the Kiwi and Canadian headed back to the pit lane. 

With nine minutes on the clock, the red flag was flown as Williams’ Logan Sargeant – who is fighting to prove he deserves a second season with the team – binned the car into the barrier on the final corner. 

Replays showed the American driver had a twitch of oversteer on the corner exit which the Williams driver corrected. However, the car continued to understeer towards the grass verge and quickly found itself in the barrier. Thankfully, Sargeant climbed out of the car and quickly crossed the circuit to return to his garage – but he was out of qualifying.  

During the red flag, Verstappen set the benchmark time of 1:29.878, ahead of the McLaren duo of Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri who were a tenth and five-tenths behind the Dutchman respectively.

When the session got back to green-flag conditions, the two Ferraris – who were yet to set a lap time on the board – ventured out onto the circuit. Lawson also jumped out onto the Japanese circuit to improve his banked lap time. 

At the same time, race control noted Leclerc and the Alfa Romeo pairing of Zhou Guanyu and Valtteri Bottas for failing to follow the race director’s instructions in regards to the maximum lap time. This directive – reintroduced in Japan – was previously seen in Monza, Italy, to avoid drivers being too slow on their outlaps.

In the dying minutes of Q1, all but Verstappen, Norris, Leclerc and Sainz were back out on track in the hopes they could avoid elimination from Q1.  

Eliminated: 

20. Logan Sargeant, Williams

19. Zhou Guanyu, Alfa Romeo

18. Nico Hulkenberg, Haas

17. Lance Stroll, Aston Martin

16. Valtteri Bottas, Alfa Romeo

Q2

When the pit lane was opened once more to start the second third of qualifying, it was Verstappen who peeled out onto the circuit first – on used soft tyres – ahead of Williams’ Alexander Albon. Naturally, the world champion jumped to the top of the timing boards with a 1:29.964 while Albon could only manage a time 1.5s slower. 

Once the field of 15 drivers finally completed their banker laps, it was the usual suspects at the top of the timing boards. Verstappen set the pace with a 1:29.964 ahead of Piastri and Norris who were second and third. 

At the other end of the top 10, both Mercedes drivers were at risk of elimination. Sir Lewis Hamilton sat on the border, in 10th, 0.02s ahead of Lawson who was 11th – George Russell was ninth, 0.06s ahead of Hamilton.

On the final runs, Piastri was ordered to peel off to the side of the pit lane as the team suspected the young Australian was safe – that suspicion was correct. In turn, this allowed the Woking-based team to save the #81 McLaren’s fresh soft tyres for the shoot-out for pole position.

Eliminated

15. Kevin Magnussen, Haas

14. Esteban Ocon, Alpine

13. Alexander Albon, Williams

12. Pierre Gasly, Alpine

11. Liam Lawson, Alpha Tauri

Q3

Q3 got underway in quick fashion after the conclusion of Q2 as such, the majority of the field peeled back out onto the circuit. Of the first laps, most of the drivers were forced to utilise their used soft compound tyres whereas both McLarens and Verstappen still had two available fresh soft tyres. 

In the bankers, Verstappen – unsurprisingly – set the pace out in front with a blistering lap of 1:29.012 as Piastri and Norris sat in second and third, respectively, four-tenths behind the Dutchman. Red Bull’s Sergio Perez and Hamilton rounded out the top five. 

However, Russell, Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso and both Ferrari drivers opted to wait until the final runs to complete their flying laps as they only had one set of fresh tyres. They decided not to complete a banker on a used set of soft tyres. 

On their first laps, Russell jumped up to fourth ahead of Perez who was demoted to fifth place whereas Alonso slipped into sixth, between Perez and Hamilton (7th). 

While Russell and Alonso peeled back into the pit lane to end their qualifying session, the rest of the field peeled back out onto the Japanese circuit on their fresh set of tyres. 

Despite their best efforts, the only person who was able to beat Verstappen was the man himself. 

The Dutch driver managed to put in a brand new fastest lap on the board with a ferocious lap time of 1:28.877, half a second faster than Piastri who is set to have his best career grid start in second. Norris completed the top three who was six-tenths behind Verstappen’s pole pace.

Top 10: 

10. Fernando Alonso, Aston Martin

9. Yuki Tsunoda, Alpha Tauri

8. George Russell, Mercedes

7. Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes

6. Carlos Sainz, Ferrari

5. Sergio Perez, Red Bull

4. Charles Leclerc, Ferrari

3. Lando Norris, McLaren

2. Oscar Piastri, McLaren

1. Max Verstappen, Red Bull

That’s all for the article: Verstappen storms his way to Japanese GP F1 pole with blistering lap!

Read more Formula 1 here:

• Verstappen completes full sweep as fastest driver in FP3 at Japan GP
• Alpha Tauri retain unchanged line up in Tsunoda and Ricciardo for 2024
• Verstappen heads the field in FP1 of Japan GP to shake off Singapore doubts
• McLaren lock down Piastri with new contract until 2026
• Sainz ends Red Bull’s and Verstappen’s F1 winning streak with victory in Singapore GP
• Sainz on pole for Singapore GP as both Red Bull’s exit after Q2

Give us a follow on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter to keep up with the latest news from the world of Motorsport! You can also support us on Patreon or on our website!